James was the youngest of five children born to Nathaniel Adams and Emma Ann Child Adams. His father came from Maine and his mother from Massachusetts. James was born in Massachusetts and when he was about 1 year old, the family moved to Rockford, Illinois. They stayed there about a year then went farther west to Mason City, Iowa where some of the Adams family had already settled. The parents remained in Mason City the rest of their lives.

James was educated in Iowa and attended the University of Grinnell and the State University of Iowa at Iowa City.

James married Victoria Olive Pushee in Nov. 1872. She was shown to be from Wisc. though the 1900 census lists her born in Ohio. No information has been found on her. By 1880 he was publisher of a local paper in Clarksville, Iowa. In January 1881 he started the Floyd County Standard, a newspaper in Rockford, Iowa. He was both publisher and editor. In February 1882, he moved the location to Charles City, still in Floyd County but as the county seat, a larger circulation. The paper occupied the upper floor of what was then the Mahara Building. It was called an "eight-column folio."

In 1889, James was in Hammond Township, Tangipahoa, Louisiana, where he published Hammond's first newspaper, The Hammond Vindicator. Hammond history states "the paper was eagerly sought not only by residents, but by northerners wishing to learn more about the area as a potential site in which to settle." The success of the paper meant Adams was able to afford a new building which was built in 1895 and is the present site of the Hammond Daily Star. He sold the paper in 1919. In the 1920 census he was retired, still living in Hammond.

Politically, he was a Democrat and it was written he "conducted himself on the principles of that party."
(data entered June 2012 by M.Andersen)